UC-Merced Hiring Admin to Support Feminist ‘Activism’

The University of California-Merced is hiring an administrator well-versed in feminism to support “student driven events” such as “activism” and “political activities.”

In a recent job posting, UC-Merced specifies that it is seeking a candidate for the newly created position of Coordinator of Women’s Programs, who will be responsible for planning “social justice” programming and supporting “student driven” activism.

The coordinator will work to support the school’s Womxn’s Programs. Housed in the Office of Student Life, select Womxn’s Programs at UC-Merced include an annual “Womxn in the Wilderness Backpacking Trip” and a “Womxn’s Empowerment Conference.”

According to its website, the office deliberately chooses to misspell women “to be more imclusive [sic] of the diversity within the category of womxn.”

The job posting states that working knowledge of social justice theories is required, specifically mentioning “Feminist Transformational Leadership,” “Intersectionality Theory,” and “2nd-4th wave feminism.” Notably, the description omits reference to the first wave of feminism, the wave that was focused on equal voting rights.

The job will pay up to $54,000 plus benefits, the same rate as the school is offering to pay its inaugural “Social Justice Initiative Program Coordinator,” a position the the school is also seeking to fill.

“The Program Coordinator will develop and implement Social Justice programming…related to identity exploration/intersection of identities, power, privilege, in the areas of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, etc.,” the job listing notes.

The listing also suggests that UC-Merced may be planning to spend even more taxpayer funds to create “multi-identity centers.” Unlike some other schools that host stand-alone Black Resource Centers or LGBTQ Centers, UC-Merced only offers identity-specific resources within its Office of Student Life.

The job description suggests that the school may be creating stand-alone centers, but the school did not respond to an inquiry from Campus Reform seeking information about the multi-identity centers and how the new positions are funded.

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